Your guide to the new season of RTÉ's Room to Improve as Dermot Bannon returns this week

Room to Improve is back on Irish screens this week with Dermot Bannon returning to RTÉ One and RTÉ Player for a brand new series that promises big designs, emotional journeys and plenty of budget battles.

Series 17 of the much-loved home renovation show gets underway on Sunday night, January 4, at 9.30pm, with four families across Dublin and Meath taking on major projects as they try to create homes that suit the next chapter of their lives.

Once again, architect Dermot Bannon's bold and often daring vision will be kept in check by quantity surveyor Claire Irwin, who is tasked with ensuring the numbers add up as families work within budgets ranging from €200,000 to €350,000.

With building costs still under pressure, the new series will see dreams, deadlines and finances collide as each household tries to get everything they want within their means.

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This season features a mix of homes of every scale and style. Viewers will see a 1990s three-bed semi-detached house in west Dublin, a so-called "bungalow bliss" home in Co. Meath, a large four-bed family house in Raheny that needs a full rethink, and a compact ex-council terraced house in Harmonstown.

The opening episode focuses on Deirdre and Kieran Kelly in Clonsilla, west Dublin. The couple are "empty nesters" who have decided to downsize from their current large home back into the smaller semi-detached house they first lived in more than 20 years ago, a place they never wanted to let go of.

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Dermot's challenge is to make the compact house work for a couple who still love to entertain family and friends. His plan includes a triple-zoned ground floor, a striking glass corner extension and clever landscaping designed to blend indoor and outdoor living. But, as ever, compromises and clashes are never far away.

At one point, Deirdre and Kieran decide to remove a chimney breast against Dermot's advice, a move that leaves Claire scrambling to keep the costs under control. Meanwhile, Kieran is determined to have his own "man cave", leading Dermot to introduce him to the world of modern pergolas as a possible solution.

Room to Improve returns on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player this Sunday night, January 4, at 9.30pm.